


It'll be better

by Peegy



Series: What will happen if I loose her? [1]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: CuriousArcher, F/F, MadArcher - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-23
Updated: 2018-06-23
Packaged: 2019-05-27 10:22:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15022532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Peegy/pseuds/Peegy
Summary: Robin heard about Nook's daughter so many times she became for her kind of fairy tale character. In fact, she admired her. Young archer felt lost and didn't know what she should do with her life. Until the time when she decided to uphold her father's legacy.Kind of rewrite of what took place between Alice in Robin. I'm not changing anything, I'm just showing what I thinkwas going on in their heads.





	It'll be better

**Author's Note:**

> Not my first ff, but first in English and first of CA. I just needed to write something that was bothering me. I just had that thought: Robin was in camp for some time before meeting Alice and the way she said “So you're the girl in the tower” made me think she heard a lot about her before. Maybe even she admired her before? Kind of my interpretation of what both of them felt. Hope you'll enjoy!

Robin lived in the camp for some time. Still, she didn't know most of the people in here, only her family. On the one hand she liked that. There was no gossips about her, and no one was interested in her life or the past of her family. It was so different in comparison to little Storybrook. People only paid attention to what she could do for all the community with her bow. But on the other hand something was missing. People looked at her emotionlessly. Sometimes it was like they didn't even notice her. She missed being popular although she didn't want do admit this. She was telling herself that she only wanted people to see she can do something good and important. Young archer wanted them to see some kind of new Robin Hood in her. But deep inside she knew that she only wanted people to look at her with admiration. That's why she volunteered for almost every mission. However, she was chosen only to a few. Most campers still treated her like some child. And that was pissing her off.

In time patrolling waterfront became her favourite activity. She was doing it with Nook on his Jolly Roger. He seemed to be one of a few people who took her seriously. She loved family which she had there, that's for sure. But her mother would always look at her like she was her “little monkey”, she would be always be this “little cousin” for Henry, and Tiana or Elle were just to busy to pay a lot attention for her. One of them was ruling her kingdom while the other one had a little baby.

During their patrols Nook learned her basics of sailing and navigation on the sea. With time Robin started to come on his boat whenever she had a spare moment. Without any reason, just to spent some time with him. Another thing she didn't want to admit was that she needed someone like Nook. She never had a father and now she felt like she needed one. She was lost and drained. She had enough of people who looked down on her. Just like they knew her. How could they know her when even she didn't know who she was any more? When she was around Nook she felt different. More airly. Young archer really wanted to start over and she felt she could do this only around people like Nook. People who didn't judge her for her past. Because now she knew that the person she was in Storybrook wasn't someone good. But it was not easy to change old habits. It was even harder when she didn't know where to start.

That was why she was going to Nook's ship at her spare time. He was learning her fencing and when they were adequately tired they used to seat somewhere on the ship and look at the sea. At that time Nook started his stories. In Storybrook, when she and her mother met with all their family, she tried to talk Hook into telling some stories from his past. However, he always refused to do that. He used to say that times before meeting Emma were to dark and painful for him. She felt like Nook had the same issue, but his stories had a bit different beginning.

All of them started with this little girl stuck up in the tower. His daughter. He never told her why she was locked up there but she understood that probably it was too aching for him. He decided to give up everything for her. Whole his pirates life, even if it meant to be stuck up there with her. At the beginning Robin felt a bit awkwardly while listening how hist daughter grew up. How he learned her to play chess and how fast she started to beat him. How he showed her how to paint. Even though she was just a kid she mastered a choice of colours. He told her that when he learned his daughter to read, he had to go to the nearest town every week for new books. In a short time she knew more about world than he. After few weeks it wasn't him telling bedtime stories but her. She used to relate him the latest book she read with such an excitement he almost felt like he read that story too.

Yes, at first Robin felt awkwardly. But with a time Nook's daughter became for her someone more like character from tales than real person. From Nook's story it arose that despite being locked up in some bloody tower his daughter used to live life to the fullest. At least as much as she could. Robin felt like there was so much hope and happiness in that little girl that she felt ashamed. She had freedom. She had family. Still, she had a feeling she was loosing hope to find even one thing that would be something... Proper for her. She was skilled with archery. Her aim was perfect. She had people that cared about her and loved her. Her mother wanted to settle down somewhere around, so she would have a home. But all of this didn't feel like making her any closer to... To what? To being herself? Yeah, she had to find something that would put her on the right track.

But every story has an end. And the ending of this one was acutely cruel. Cause how otherwise can you describe a situation in which two closest people can't be together under pain of death?

She didn't want her story to end in the point she was now. She had to do something to make it different. And when she was looking at her bow she knew what was that. She had to uphold her father's legacy.

At one day Nook told her something that surprised her. “You remind me of her. You seem to be as strong as her. I think you two would get along”. He said it jokingly but it was something memorable for Robin.

All of this lead to the moment in which she needed so much time to understand who she caught up in that cage. Alice was always “Nook's kid” for Robin. Never real, more like someone from fairy tale. But wasn't she living in Enchanted Forest?  
When she met her she noticed Alice was more herself than Robin ever thought. With her British accent and all that impatience like being in one place for more than few seconds was painful for her.

“You're Alice. Nook's kid” Robin said with amazement.

“Nook's?” Blonde girl frowned.

“New. New Hook. It's a thing me and my mum came up with... You know what, doesn't matter” she felt like she wasn't making a great first impression on that girl.

“Wow. So you are the girl in the tower” this sentence just blurt out of her mouth. She didn't even realize how full of admiration was her tone. Robin was always a hothead but now she felt like she wasn't thinking at all. She just spoke whatever came into her brain.

“I got out of that tower years ago” Now Robin was one who frowned. She always imagined Alice as a person who would always be full of happiness. Of course, she was locked up in the tower for most of her life, but the sadness archer saw in her eyes was something different. She didn't know how she could say that. She just could. It was like she was able to read every emotion from blonde's face. And now she felt so embarrassed. She always thought just about Nook's sorrow and the only emotion she associated with his daughter was happiness. But now it wasn't “Nook's daughter” any more. It was Alice. And she was even more outstanding as a real person than as a tale figure. All this mixture of feeling seemed to create something among summer, clean sky and spring storm. She was filling Robin with calmness but at the same time it felt like she could do something most unexpected in every second.

“So I heard. I thought Henry and Ella left you in Wonderland looking for a curie for your father” Robin asked Henry about hist meeting with this Nook's kid so many times she knew every detail about their little adventure in that strange land.

“Well, he did, but... I failed” And know young archer knew what was that sorrow she saw before. Alice lost her hope.

“I'm sorry” she really wanted to comfort that girl. Sadness on Alice's face seemed to be so inappropriate. “I know he misses you.” _Yeah Robin, you're doing great. Telling such an obvious thing will surely comfort her. Come on, you can be better at talking to some girl._ But even if Robin was a little disappointed with herself, she smiled in such a genuine way that Alice felt what she said was true. It wasn't just another polite phrase which blonde heard so many times before. These words were filled with so much empathy they made Alice curious.

“How do you know my Papa?” she asked with a frown.

_Okay, it's your time to glow. Back straight, strong tone._

 

“I'm a part of a team. You know, my mom and aunt, your dad, a bunch of other people I don't really know...” _That wasn't bad... But also not perfect._ “Kind of new here. Name's Robin” She almost said Robin Hood but she didn't want to hear the same thing she heard so many times before: wasn't he a guy and a bit taller? First she had to prove she could uphold his legacy, then she could use Robin Hood name.

“New Robin? So Nobin?”

This talk wasn't going to the right direction for Robin.

“Yeah, don't call me that” she felt shivers of embarrassment when she heard that nickname.

“But if Papa's Nook it only follows you should be Nobin, right?”

“It's just... Different” Robin was starting to feel irritated. This Alice was truly stubborn.

“How?” Blonde asked like she really didn't know what this all was about.

“It's just... Not cool, okay?” as soon as Robin said that words she regretted this. You're so pathetic, girl.

“Cool? Why would you want to be cool?”

“You haven't gotten out much since that tower, have you?” Robin teased her. She wasn't angry with Alice, in fact she thought her attitude was adorable, she was just... Herself. And she really didn't want to hear that stupid nickname ever again.

“I've been in loads of places. And this cage? My least favourite in all the realms.” Yeah, that was on of many reasons Robin was jealous of her. When Alice got out of that tower she wasn't scared at all. She just went out into the world. When Robin got out of Storybrook, her own cage, she just... Stayed in one place again. It was like she took her cage with her to the Enchanted Forest. “So mind letting me out of here? Nobin.” Alice was definitely teasing her.

“Only if you stop calling me that.” She would let her free anyway but she had to have final say.

“Thank you. Nobin” Alice said with a smirk when the caged pulled up.

Yeah, Robin was truly annoyed. She wanted to reply but just before she did, she heard something.

It was like a call for her. It was a sound of her chance. Chance to became new Robin Hood. No, certainly not new Robin Hood. Anything but not new Robin. She had to come up with something new. More catchy and better sounding. But first she had to prove her value.

“That's him. That's the monster. I've been tracking him for days.” She would locate him a lot faster but it was almost like he was disappearing from time to time. When she thought she was just one step behind him the track always perished. It happened every single time past this few days.

“Wait, wait, wait.” she heard Alice voice. “I know that sound. That's no monster. That's a friend”

That sound was so close to them. He probably was just few kilometres in the north-east direction. She had to get him. When she would do that she would finally be noticed by everyone in camp. They would look at her with admiration she wanted them to. They would see real Robin Hood in her. Just the one like her father was. She had to find that monster and kill him. She almost forgot about girl standing behind her.

“Yeah, well, your friend's been tormenting villages. And I have and arrow with his name on it” She had to go now. It was her best opportunity. “See ya around, Tower Girl.” she said and ran into the right direction.

“Wait! No, you cannot shot him! Stop!” She heard shouting Alice but she knew she couldn't stop her. Robin was just too fast.

 


End file.
